As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to these users is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may vary with respect to the type of information handled; the methods for handling the information; the methods for processing, storing or communicating the information; the amount of information processed, stored, or communicated; and the speed and efficiency with which the information is processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include or comprise a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
The information handling system may include one or more operating systems. An operating system serves many functions, such as controlling access to hardware resources and controlling the execution of application software. Operating systems also provide resources and services to support application software. These resources and services may include a file system, a centralized configuration database (such as the registry found in Microsoft Windows operating systems), a directory service, a graphical user interface (GUI), a networking stack, device drivers, and device management software. In some instances, services may be provided by other application software running on the information handling system, such as a database server.
Some information handling systems are designed to interact with other information handling systems over a computer network connection. In particular, certain information handling systems may be designed to monitor, configure, and adjust the features, functionality, and software of other information handling systems by communicating with those information handling systems over a network connection. For example, one information handling system might be configured to manage the installation and updating of software on several other information handling systems.
In the context of the present disclosure, the term “network appliance” may refer to any device, such as an information handling system, which may include a combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software, that is capable of performing a set of operations or functions in connection with or over a computer network. The actual set of operations or functions a specific network appliance is capable of performing often depends on the hardware, firmware, and/or software included in that appliance. In the very least, however, a network appliance should be capable of being connected to a computer network. In some contexts, software enabling network appliance functionality may be incorporated into an existing computing device responsible for performing other functions as well.
For example, the Dell KACE K1000, a product of Dell Inc., is a network appliance that provides system management on a computer network. Some of the operations supported by the Dell KACE K1000 appliance include device discovery and inventory, patch management, configuration and policy management, organizational management, asset management, power management, software distribution, remote site replication, security audit and enforcement, and administrative alerts. As another example, the Dell KACE K2000, another product of Dell Inc., is a network appliance that provides computer software (e.g., operating systems) deployment over a computer network. Some of the operations supported by the Dell KACE K2000 appliance include disk imaging, device driver management, centralized deployment library, remote site management and remote administration, computer inventory scanning and assessment, network operating system installation, pre and post deployment configuration, user state migration, and system repair and recovery.